Tonight an auditorium of Americans spoke by internet with two Iraqis. After viewing The Road to Fallujah, with director Mark Manning and some of the film crew and producers in attendance, the members of the audience stood before a camera to ask questions of two Iraqis, one now in Syria and one in Jordan. The audienced then watched on a movie screen as we heard their answers. The film brought home the extensive suffering our actions have visited on the people on Fallujah--dead children, children who have seen their grandmother killed, bombed out buildings, no water, and on and on. The presence of the Iraqis in the question and answer session further helped transport us out of our comfortable mind sets into an appropriately sober and reflective mode. With sad eyes and a somber heart, I hurried home to jot down some of the salient moments for you.
The Film
Mark Manning is a local Santa Barbara man who was received with great pride for his accomplishment in creating this film. He had been working a good job in underwater construction when the Iraqi occupation began. Feeling he could no longer continue to work for the oil companies, he looked around for answers to how we came to the state we are in. Night classes in documentary film making became the first step toward creating this balanced and well-organized microcosm of the US involvement in Iraq.
From the Road to Fallujah website:
THE ROAD TO FALLUJAH follows the story of Mark Manning, the only westerner to live with the people of Fallujah, Iraq immediately following the November 2004 battle that destroyed their ancient and holy city. With unique access to both sides of the conflict, the film gives a voice to the people directly involved and affected by the war and takes an in-depth and humanizing look at the issues in Iraq, breaking through the myths and misconceptions surrounding the violence and offering alternative solutions to war.
In The Road to Fallujah, Thich Nhat Hanh gives an exquisitely simple description of the movement from suffering to peace. Much of war is because of our minds, he says. When we realize our enemy is suffering the same as we are, we want to help. We begin to feel compassion for him. When we develop this compassion, we begin to feel peace. And thus we end our suffering.
The footage of physical destruction and personal testimony starkly underlines the sanitized junk American citizens have been force fed concerning this war. Lack of contact of even the photographic kind has been a crucial component of the U.S. propaganda machine painting Iraqis as less than fully civilized. I can only hope this enlightening film receives sufficient distribution to become a healing mirror for our society.
In his introduction to the film, Mark said he believes the election of Obama has created a second, brief window of opportunity for us to help the Iraqis. He thinks we have as many as three months. In order to get it right this time, Mark believes (as do I), that we need to take a realistic look at the mistakes we have made.
Giving informed, substantive commentary in the film are Major General (ret.) Paul D. Eaton, Capt. Allen Vaught, Lt. Col. Michael Zacchea, Desmond Tutu, Arun Gandhi, Iraqi journalists, Islamic scholars, families of slain Blackwater contractors in Fallujah, and other Iraqis.
The Q & A
After the film, the director spoke briefly. Mark explained that our set-up would be decidedly low-tech, grassroots as it is, then took a few minutes establishing the connection as we watched the mac desktop projected onto the large theater screen.
Rana Al-Aiouby, a prominent figure in the film, had gotten up early to be available for this video conference. Maki Al-Nazzal came to us from Jordan. We had to give up on the third volunteer because of technical problems. Here is a quick summary of what I took from this.
Rana stressed repeatedly, in answer after answer, that we U.S. citizens need to pressure our government. But further, we need to examine whether we still enjoy a democracy. Maki's main emphasis was that Iraqis are looking for action. "We have heard a lot of promises. We need to see changes on the ground." The recent hope we Americans have experienced has not carried over to the Iraqis. "It is difficult for us to feel hope," Maki said matter-of-factly.
The "American people" were not in attendance; rather, a bunch of unsatisfactorily propagandized peaceniks were asking the questions. The first man wanted to know what we can do to help. Rana gently bristled, as she did at most of the questions, answering basically that it seems clear that the U.S. has done enough already to "help" Iraq. "What more can you do," is what I recall her saying. Maki spoke in general terms of peace, of stopping the fighting.
The second woman spoke of her marching for peace in the U.S. and in London. She asked again what, in some small way, we might do to help. Rana was well aware of the peace marches. She spoke of the millions of people the world over who have resisted this military action. But did the Bush administration listen? No. She said we must find if we still have a democracy.
Last week on NPR I heard a journalist claim that the Iraqis are ambivalent in the feelings about Bush. They are grateful for being liberated from Saddam, but they don't like the way he carried out the war. The film made clear that this claim is as bogus and absurd as I had imagined it must be. A typical statement from the film is "They liberated us with bombs on our houses."
Instead I asked what we should make of the current Iraqi government and how we might discern a legitimate Iraqi voice from just another crooked politician. Rana said she didn't understand the question--I think she heard condescension towards the ability of Iraqis to govern rather than an understanding of the puppet nature of their government. Maki answered that the current Iraqi government can only do what America tells them to do. They are searched by Americans on their way into the Parliament. They can only "kill for the Americans," he said. He thinks there are leaders available, honorable leaders who can help bring Iraq back if we will ever return Iraq to them.
A young Asian woman spoke to them beautifully in Buddhist terms. She acknowledged the suffering they have endured while we have been going about our daily lives as though everything is normal. She called it a "moral burden" they were having to endure. She expressed what seemed obvious--that the two Iraqis seem to have lost hope. She tried to express to them that hope has re-kindled here for many Americans following the election and that we would work to influence our government to transfer some of that hope their way.
A school teacher asked about suggestions for establishing some kind of exchange program between Iraqi children and her students, either in Iraq or in the refugee camps. Both seemed unmoved but respectfully acknowledged that the teacher is doing important work and promised to try to help set something up through Mark.
Rana reminded us several times that our previous administration is guilty of war crimes. Both of them mentioned Obama's silence with respect to Israel's bombing of Gaza as reason for holding out little hope that real change has come. This issue was mentioned forcefully, with some anger, more than once. It is clear that by tacitly condoning Israel's aggression, we have further solidified our negative position in the eyes of the world.
Someone asked how soon we should withdraw our troops. Rana said with frustration that that is the question she is asked repeatedly everywhere she goes. I'm not certain I understood her answer. She said in a completely hopeless tone, "Two weeks would be soon enough." She went on to ask, "Will you leave the Iraqi oil for the Iraqis? Will the corporations withdraw along with the military?" I understood her to be expressing unwillingness to accept any possibility of this happening, but my wife and I were both unsure of her meaning.
A person asked to describe a typical day for them in Iraq during the conflict. Both began by saying they were being asked to revisit very painful memories. They described constant fear, constant loss of loved ones. Maki mentioned 1300 buried in Fallujah in one month, and that does not include the many buried by their families. He said in that month, 20,000 homes were destroyed and 25,000 homes damaged. While acknowledging the pain of thinking of these matters, both speakers seemed genuinely appreciative of the interest. "Thank you for asking," Rana said.
Someone asked what they needed from us; will they be able to re-build. I took him to mean in light of all the destruction we have wrought on their infrastructure and social fabric. Rana responded with an articulate chiding, "After the first bombardment, we had completely rebuilt in six months. When Iraqis talk about culture, we are talking about 10,000 years, not just 200. We can rebuild ourselves." While I understand her and feel her understanding runs deep, I felt sad that Rana was hearing us with the same sort of sterotyping she imagined we had toward her. It is always so difficult to imagine that a distant people is as varied and complex as are we. Given the behavior of our government and the shallowness of our press, how could an Iraqi be expected to imagine that some Americans are thinking right along with her? In any case, he comments about our imperial, corrupt, corporate-run society were devastatingly accurate.
The last speaker apologized touchingly for the shameful behavior of our criminal government, explaining the "heavy propaganda burden" which makes it difficult to educate our fellow citizens. He pledged to continue trying. Maki said simply that Iraqis know they have no fight with the American people. Again he stressed that it is up to us to gain control over our government.
Maki expressed a remote possibility of learning to like Americans again, if behavior changes. The occupation had forced him to acknowledge, "For 47 years I have been a fool thinking America is a good country." He also said a quote that burned right through me. He was speaking of being able to possibly build a non-corrupt government in Iraq, and perhaps even being able to one day develop a friendship with a non-corrupt U.S. government.
Americans are famous in Iraq for their corruption.
I felt deeply ashamed.
Later he said,
The U.S. is not liked in the world. This is more of a problem for you than for anyone else.
I hoped to provide a link to Rana's NGO, International Peace Angels, but the link is not working for me. Veterans For Peace links Rana's site, so I'll put them here as one representative of positive action. Do a little searching, and you'll find more you can do. And let's take Dana's word to heart. Our main job is not to fix Iraq, it's to insist that our government respond to its citizens.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival
This film is only the most recent and dramatic of the eye-opening and inspiring documentaries being screened at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival this year. Every day I have wanted to diary at least two terrific films I have seen, yet viewing four and five films daily has left no time. I hope to discuss this in more detail later, but here I will say simply that many documentaries and films have shared a common thread: local populations the world over are in desperate fights against corporate or oligarchic exploitation and ruination of their natural resources. In every case, decent people working for the good of society are met with organized greed, in most cases assisted by violence and lies. Typically, the nuns, doctors, and social activists are accused of the crimes of which the powers-that-be are themselves guilty (sound familiar). I asked the program director if that is a conscious theme this year. She said no. This is what is "sticking in the craws" of film makers. She said it was difficult finding anything light-hearted.
Paul D. Eaton
